Lawmakers say single levee board bill won't pass Group says major changes needed

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Proponents of turning patronage-laden southeast Louisiana levee boards into one state-controlled agency packed a Senate committee room Wednesday and were flatly told by two lawmakers that there is no hope for the proposal.

"The bill is not going to pass in its current fashion," said Sen. Robert Adley, a Democrat from the north Louisiana town of Benton. "There's just no way."

Sen. Heulette "Clo" Fontenot went farther, turning from the room's witness table and telling the crowd they were being used by Gov. Kathleen Blanco's administration as political pawns. Fontenot said Blanco, who testified in support of the bill before the committee, knows it cannot get enough votes to pass the Senate.

"You're being taken for a ride," said Fontenot, R-Baton Rouge, who represents an area where local flood control officials oppose the measure.

Blanco, a Democrat, received blistering criticism from proponents of the one-board plan when she failed to work for its passage in a post-Hurricane Katrina special session last fall. In the New Orleans area, where Katrina's storm surge carved out wide swaths of death and destruction, a grassroots campaign supported by many in the business community blossomed. Blanco has since signed on to the idea.

Although the levees in and around New Orleans are largely federal projects, they are maintained by local boards of political appointees. Critics say the boards failed to pay attention to potential problems with the levees, possibly contributing to the Katrina catastrophe. The new, single board backed by Blanco would be full of experts on hydrology and engineering.

Legislative approval of a the board would send a signal to Congress that the state is serious about flood protection and governmental reform, Blanco said. "This legislation is about securing our recovery and our families' safety," she told the Senate's transportation committee.

But angry opponents in the Senate attacked the measure with a variety of arguments: some say the proposal would protect New Orleans at the expense of surrounding parishes; others don't want the state meddling in their areas; still others defend the existing levee boards as their only hope against future storms.

Sen. Chris Ullo, in the Legislature since 1972, said he's spent most of his political career getting flood protection for areas on the west bank of the Mississippi River that get no protection from levees surrounding New Orleans. Ullo said he would consider voting for the Blanco-backed measure on one condition: the west bank areas of Jefferson Parish must be left out of the regional flood-control agency that Blanco wants to create.

"I would ask that you leave West Jefferson to take care of its own problems," said Ullo, D-Harvey.

Ullo noted that the levee failures in New Orleans had no effect on the homes and businesses on the river's west bank.

The plan backed by Blanco and sponsored by Sen. Walter Boasso, a Republican from devastated St. Bernard Parish, faces rival bills, including one that fits into the parameters set by Ullo. That bill, by Rep. Jim Tucker, R-Terrytown, would create a levee district encompassing suburban western Jefferson and the part of New Orleans on the river's west bank.

Opposition and support cross party lines among lawmakers who represent parishes surrounding New Orleans.

Lawmakers like Fontenot, from areas north of the city, complained that the proposed flood-control agency should not have oversight so far from the coast. The new agency would interfere with levee and pumping operations already in place, they said, while New Orleans levee projects get all the money and attention.

Blanco noted that Congress, in a 2005 appropriations bill, set aside $12 million for a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study on possible establishment of Category 5 hurricane protection for the coast. The bill stipulated that Louisiana have a single state agency with power over and responsibility for the levee system for southeast Louisiana, and Blanco told senators Congress is watching the Legislature closely.

Many of the supporters in the room were members of a New Orleans group that says it has collected 52,000 signatures in support of Boasso's measure.

Fontenot was unfazed, telling the crowd: "This is a political football between the state of Louisiana and our congressional delegation."

JUst got back in glad you posted this. I am open to other views but no one has convinced me that this one levee board is not necessary. Whats infuriating is the papers are not explaining for instance what are the reasons for Livingston Parish's objections.

Several parishes objected at the hearing. They said they have been doing a good job with the money they get, no corruption, no problems etc. They don't want to be lumped in with NO because they think NO will get all the money and their levees will not get the attention they get now. An analogy was why didn't you take all the well performing schools and lump them in with NO poor performing schools and have the state take over all of them? If NO levee board is corrupt, replace those members, but don't touch us, we are doing fine left alone.

I don't know, but it seems if it's the only way the feds will give them the funds to fix the levees, it has to pass.

THis from Vitters office from lpn
Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Sen. David Vitter issued the following statement on levee board consolidation:

“I strongly support fundamental levee board reform and consolidation like that embodied in the Boasso bill. First, it’s the right thing to do to truly protect Louisiana citizens. And second, it’s absolutely necessary to prove to Washington and the country that we’re getting our act together.

“Exactly what does fundamental reform and consolidation mean? It has to mean having a blue ribbon committee selection process that puts real experts on the board and not political cronies. It has to mean stripping out all non-flood control responsibilities and having the board focus purely on levees. And it must mean major consolidation on a broad regional basis and not numerous, competing small jurisdictions.”

1. # posted by Louisiana Political News Service @ 11:18 AM

I think this where it gets sticky. I am not sure if these levee boards are all so pristine as the Senator states. But everyone else is the State is wondering if this passes we will have one state wide levee board in the future. Of course local politcos would hate that.

"With the eyes of the nation upon us, we cannot stumble," Blanco said while lying face down in the mud.

The only way you should have separate levee boards is if the levees are physically separated. If I understand (and please correct me if I'm wrong), the canal levees, river levees and lake levees were controlled by different boards, even though they were in a situation where if any one failed the whole system failed.

If New Oreleans is rebuilt below sea level again, it will need multiple redundent levees so that one failure will destroy a neighborhood instead of the city. There is no way that can be handled by multiple boards all getting their hands in the money pile.

This somes it up quite well from lpn again. An editorial from the Town Talk papers editorial.:

The greatest impediment to a consolidated levee board lies just across the river, on the west bank of Jefferson Parish, whose leaders no more want to be merged into the regional body than the Gretna Police wished to have hurricane evacuees cross the bridge into their town after the storm.

Opponents of the Blanco-backed bill need only one-third plus one of members in either House to block passage of a proposed constitutional amendment until concessions are made.

The risk is that, if the governor can't overcome the west bank resistance and keep in the bill other parishes that may want out (leaders in Livingston and Tangipahoa parishes, for instance, with no levees or levee taxes, seem to like it that way), the eight-parish board might get whittled down to three and a half. Would Congress and the rest of the nation dismiss that as a half-baked political deal?

The levee issue could become more problematic if it gets mixed up with the consolidation of municipal offices in New Orleans. That concept appeals to many lawmakers, who are happy to reform someone else's government, especially one with the excesses of Orleans.

But with both the levee board and government consolidation bills requiring two-thirds votes, there is the opportunity for opponents to form an unholy alliance that could compromise both reforms.

I think thats about right. Plus and I am no expert on this but the issue of drainage also crosses into different parishes. The reason this makes sense to me is that failure in Nola could cause problems in adjoining parishes also. At this point, if the Congressioanl delegation is telling us we have to do it then we need to suck it up.

From Rep Rep.(future Gov)JIndels site
"But to make sure this money is spent wisely, I am also working to streamline the current inefficient system of multiple levee boards. The state will get an extra $12 million to study and design Category 5 levee protection if it consolidates the levee boards in Southeast Louisiana into one unified levee board."

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